Tom Watson

I've never had a lot of time for Tom Watson. That's not necessarily a criticism - I just feel neutral about him, although he went down in my estimation over the alleged paedophile ring allegations.

I could never really understand what his role as Deputy Leader actually meant, apart from sitting next to Corbyn in the HoC.

I wonder if his resignation is headline news and has attracted so much comment because there's nothing to report from Parliament. I really hate this mudslinging stage before elections.

That is interesting paperbackbutterfly.

I agree, Wwmk2, but people keep bringing it up and it annoys me that the facts are never mentioned...

The Jewish Labour Movement was revived in 2015. It has strong ties to the Israeli Embassy. There are plenty of Jews who support Corbyn, including Jewish Voice for Labour. The mainstream media (the BBC has sadly become an enclave of a privately educated elite, often ex-Murdoch or ex-Spectator, and the Guardian has a Blairite agenda) have amplified the antisemitic 'crisis'. Antisemitism, shamefully, exists within the Labour Party, but only 0.06 members have been found guilty of it, and they have been suspended or expelled. For opponents of Corbyn, the very fact of denying that there is an 'antisemitism crisis' in Labour, as I have just done here, itself constitutes antisemitism.

Tom Watson is my local mp. He was last in the borough for the European elections. He has no interest in this area, just likes the rewards of his office. We are thrilled he has resigned, now we can have a labour candidate who will care about their ward.

maizie at the time I researched the artists biography, his explanation of the work and looked at his other work and the context in which they were made and installed.

I came to the conclusion, that it was not anti-Semitic.

However in the end it seemed to play into the hands of the wrong people, and for this I apologised for my original decision, but I have always felt uncomfortable.

But I don’t think this should be opened again as it is nothing to do with current issues.

Although I realise that those obsessed with Corbyn will think differently. Unfortunately

Time to re-close that particular door.

Another little derail,.

If that mural is going to raise its head again, these are the people it portrayed:

Rothschild [jewish], Rockefeller [a baptist], Morgan [an episcopalian], Carnegie [a presbyterian], Warburg [jewish], as well Aleister Crowley [Plymouth Brethren],

2 Jews, 4 non-Jews, so it's anti what, precisely?

(Absolutely puzzled as to what Crowley was doing in there, though...)

SuzieW, upon your instruction I clarify: hunted in the same way that Leon Brittan was.

GrannyA did you mean hunted or haunted ? If the former you are encouraging criminal behaviour. I think you should clarify and correct if necceary.

Funny, isn't it, that all those whom he insisted were investigated by the police for sexual assault just happened to be his political opponents either past or present. He is evil personified, and I really hope that he gets a dose of his own medicine, and is hunted to his deathbed.

Jewish LABOUR Movement .

They have been affiliated to the Labour Party since 1920

This surely explains their political views ?

The above question was to Anniebach about the JLM not supporting Corbyn in the election.

I don't know. Please could you explain why.

My understanding is that the JLM won't support Labour in Finchley and Golders Green, because Luciana Berger is standing as a LibDem.

I don't fully understand the political views of the JLM, but I understand that they are at odds with Corbyn.

He was guilty of gross misjudgement imo.

Undoubtedly with the best of intention.

He wasn’t the first person to trust the police

I can't help but think of the men who were persecuted for years and had their lives ruined by the paedophile enquiry - and he drove that forward throughout, insisting that the police continued to investigate. Was he right to do so, from honest motives? I can't feel either surprised or regretful that he has resigned; after the enquiry and the amount of criticism for his actions it seemed only a matter of time before he would have to stand down.

Two wrongs never ever make a right. But the Conservatives have point blank refused to do what they had promised they would do- and to have a genuine report on Islamophobia in the Party. At least the Labour party it truly looking at the issues and doing everything it can to solve the issues.

Which is hugely complicated by the vile and inhuman treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and other territories - as any criticism is mis-interpreted as antisemitism.

Then why has the Jewish Labour Movement said they will not
support Corbyn st this general election .

What a load of rubbish, “the far left”☹️ You are either reading the Daily Mail rag or other biased media, especially good old BBC. Funny how we rarely hear Tory voters talking of “the hard right”, or “far right”. I dislike Tom Watson, but not for being “hard left”.

He says he will continue to campaign for the party, and the decision was 'personal not political' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thanked Mr Watson for his service, adding: "This is not the end of our work together."

Anniebach Corbyn didn't defend the wall. A thumbnail image of it appeared on his Facebook timeline in 2012, with a message from the artist saying that it was going to be removed. The artist didn't mention antisemitism, and Corbyn simply asked why it was going to be removed, and mentioned the political censorship that Diego Rivera had been subject to. The most salient thing about the mural (especially when you only see a tiny reproduction) is the image of bankers playing monopoly - a common metaphor after the crash. If you look closely (and if you are alerted to the fact), you can see that of the six bankers, who are supposed to be based on real-life people, one is definitely an antisemitic caricature, and another one less obviously but equally obnoxiously so. When Luciana Berger drew attention in 2018 to Corbyn's response to the Facebook post, he acknowledged that he should have looked more closely, and agreed that it was antisemitic. But it is a complete distortion of the facts to claim that he 'defended' an antisemitic caricature. It's clear from his actual response that he assumed the censorship was because of the anti-capitalist message. He has a long record of support for Jewish causes, while opposing some of the policies of the current, and some previous, Israeli governments.

^That wall mural was anti semetic, you Whitewave strongly
denied it was because Corbyn had protested about it being
removed.^

I expect to be screamed at but I still don't think the mural was anti-semitic. It did play on anti-semitic tropes, which were in exceedingly bad taste, but it attacked the wealthy and those using wealth to run the world, not jews.

Tom Watson has worked to undermine the current leadership - overwhelmingly elected and re-elected by the membership - just as he worked to undermine Ed Miliband (who stood up for the rights of Palestinians while fully acknowledging the right of Israel to exist, just like Corbyn). Watson is massively supported by pro-Israel donors. This is entirely legal - he can take money from whoever he wants, and he declares it. But you can draw your own conclusions about some of his position-taking.

"A spokeswoman for Ofcom said: 'We are assessing these against our broadcasting rules before deciding whether or not to investigate"

I reckon it was just a mix-up. Nothing deliberate on either side.

Annie, and that's a worry in itself!